could do to save Bree. There was nothing I could do but watch the creature’s claws slice right through her neck. Blood soared through the air, and I stumbled onto my knees. Bree crumpled onto the ground, her eyes distant, her face slack.
The creature jerked its head to the right, and then launched down the street, disappearing into the night.
They found me on my knees with blood all over my hands. I couldn’t remember anything after the moment that I’d seen Bree’s broken body fall onto the pavement. My entire body was numb and cold, and the world felt like a distant memory. Nothing felt real. Not even the blood on my hands.
“Miss, we’re going to have to ask you to come away from the body.” A woman in blue knelt before me, shining a flashlight into my eyes.
I blinked and glanced away. “I can’t leave her. I’m trying to stop the blood.”
Her voice went soft. “I know, honey, but we can’t help her if you don’t move away.”
“Can you stop her bleeding?” I asked.
A pause. “We’ll do our best. Now, come on.”
Body still numb, I stood. A sharp crack echoed in the night, and I peeled my eyes away from Bree to find myself face-to-face with a police officer. His gun was pointed right at me.
“What’s going on?” Deep within my muddled mind, I knew I should be alarmed and afraid. Someone was pointing a gun at me. But I felt nothing. Nothing but the need to make sure Bree was okay.
“Norah Oliver, yes? You need to turn around and put your hands in the air.” The officer glanced at the woman who had found me next to Bree. “Martha, I’m going to need you to search her for a weapon.”
A weapon? I frowned, confusion rippling through me until my mind began to piece the clues together. My blood-stained hands. Me kneeling over the body. The number one suspect in another similar brutal murder.
Murder.
Revulsion shook through me, and I grasped at my shirt because I didn’t know what else to do with my hands. This couldn’t be happening. Bree couldn’t be dead. And I wasn’t about to be arrested for her death.
A loud shot rang through the neon-lit streets, and the gun clattered out of the cop’s hands. His eyes widened as he stared down at his gun, and then he moved his eyes to me. My heart hammered. What the hell was going on? Was someone shooting at us? At me?
And then I heard a soft quiet voice whisper into my ear, from somewhere far, far away. Somehow, it sounded so near. “Run.”
I didn’t know why I listened to the voice, but I did.
Before the cop could grab his gun, I ran.
Chapter Seven
I ran. I didn’t know where I was going, but I ran. At first, I flew down the streets with a sense of determination and purpose. Get away from the cops. But as the minutes ticked by and the pulsing red lights faded into the background, my feet began to falter as a horrifying realization washed over me.
I’d just run from the cops. They’d found me at a murder scene, and I’d done the worst thing in the world I could do.
With my heart constricting inside my chest, I swerved into the nearest alley and ducked behind a dumpster. Sobs heaved from my body, my mind engulfed by grief and fear. Bree was gone. She’d been killed right before my eyes, and I hadn’t been able to do a thing. And our final conversation had been so fraught with barely contained anger.
“We’re sorry about what happened to your friend,” came a foreign voice.
“We didn’t realize another Redcap was tracking you, or we would have taken care of it.” But that voice…that was the one from my dreams.
I looked up, peering through my tears to find the four strange guys standing before me. The ones from the club. The ones from the theatre. The ones who had battled the monster. But their fighting hadn’t helped. Because another monster had come along and killed my friend.
“Who are you?” I asked in a harsh whisper. “Why are you following me? And what the hell was that thing?”
“That’s a lot of questions to answer in one conversation,” the golden one said. “It would be easiest if you just came with us. I’m Rourke, and this is Liam, Kael, and Finn.”
“Came with you?” I fisted my hands. “Are you insane? After what just happened, do you really think I’m going to